Treasury Sued to Remove 'God' from Currency

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, DC (Worthy News)– The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the U.S. Treasury Department to remove  “In God We Trust” from all its currency.

A nonprofit organization that represents atheists and agnostics, the FFRF claims the motto is “offensive” to the nonreligious.

In February, the FFRF and 19 plaintiffs filed a civil suit in New York claiming the motto violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution; they also claim it forces atheists, agnostics and secular skeptics to impart a religious message they all decry whenever using  U.S. currency, resulting in a false declaration of their own religious views.

Dan Barker, co-president of the Wisconsin-based FFRF, also believes the motto sends a religious message to everyone who uses U.S. currency.

“[In God We Trust] is indeed considered to be a religious phrase,” Barker told The Christian Post. “The message belongs in churches, private institutions and can be shared by missionaries, but who is the ‘we’ representing, if not all of us trust in a God?”

Barker said the purpose of the motto, first proposed in the 1950s, was to proselytize Christianity whenever Americans exchange currency overseas.

“The idea was that ‘as our money goes around the world, we are sharing our Christianity.’”

Barker told the Post that the plaintiffs are not advocating the motto be replaced, just removed.

“We are not suggesting that the motto should be changed to ‘There Is No God,’ or ‘We Don’t Believe In God,’ because that would be offensive and the government should be neutral, and shouldn’t promote, or attack either side.”

Three previous attempts to legally remove “In God We Trust” from American currency have proved unsuccessful.